In running a bastardized combination of Debian Stretch/Sid/Buster/Experimental on my Intel NUC NUC8i7HVK with kernel 4.18.0-rc4-amd64 to successfully work with the in-kernel AMD screen drivers, with some recent updates, I started experiencing some of my windows were freezing (going to 100% cpu in top). Konsole was the most repeatable offender. Others included picture preview, VLC, etc. Konsole would 'reliably' freeze (100% cpu) after moving the window.
One approach at a solution was to (from forum.kde.org):
renaming a couple files in the ~/.config directory: * plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc * plasmashellrc then run 'killall plasmashell && plasmashell &'
This helped a bit, but not much. I ended up installing the LXDE window manager. As an aside, I needed to install parcellite to manage the clipboard. There are some caveats:
- Don't install LXDE from with in a Konsole session in Plasmashell. The window may freeze, which interrupts the install, and generates an incomplete install. It is better to exit the window manager (or ssh in to a console), and install LXDE that way.
- When installing LXDE, there was a prompt on whether to use clipit (it was asking about copying and pasting passwords and such). I said no. Not realizing this just kills the clipit password manager. Hence the requirement to install parcellite after the fact.
Possible debugging steps in the future:
- strace Konsole
- (gdb) thread apply all backtrace [as seen at bugs.launchpad.net]
As a word of note, the current plasma is from Sid:
$ dpkg -l |grep plasma-desk ii plasma-desktop 4:5.13.1.1-1 amd64 Tools and widgets for the desktop ii plasma-desktop-data 4:5.13.1.1-1 all Tools and widgets for the desktop data files $ dpkg -l |grep plasma-work ii plasma-workspace 4:5.13.2-1 amd64 Plasma Workspace for KF5
In summary, my Konsole is now stable. And in changing window/display managers, rather than sddm/plasma, I am using lightdm/lxde. I will switch back and try once more plasma updates arrive.
There is a an old Debian Bug logged: background konsole processing using 100% cpu after login in the konsole package. It may or may not be related.
Notes:
- LXSession contains information for customizing and automating LXDE sessions
- based upon the list at 10 Best Clipboard Managers for Linux, copyq is a good candidate as a clipboard manager.